Current state-of-the-art augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) systems which display stereoscopic or 3-dimensional (3D) content often require physical calibration and physical adjustment of the head-mounted device (HMD) for each user in order to account for different inter-pupil distances (IPD) and other sizing differences associated with each user. These adjustments are needed due to optical elements such as lenses that may reside between the user's eyes and the display surface. Without the physical calibration, the optical element and display surface will not be in the proper location which can result in poor visual quality and a poor user experience. However, this physical adjustment requirement interferes with an ideal and simple user experience and leaves the AR/VR systems susceptible to poor visuals due to incorrect adjustment and calibration.
Current state-of-the-art display systems generally consist of either flat-panel displays or projector-based displays. The flat-panel displays are generally based on liquid crystal display (LCD) pixels with light emitting diode (LED) backlighting or plasma-based screens. In these display systems, it is difficult to attain screen sizes significantly larger than 80 inches in width due to several considerations. For flat-panel displays, nonlinear increases in cost as the screen size grows, as well as high power consumption, may limit screen sizes to below 80 inches at typical consumer price points. For projection-based displays, many factors limit increases in screen size, including: decreased brightness, increased power consumption, large projector size and projector noise. Additionally, for these types of display systems it is generally not technically feasible, or is prohibitively expensive to implement transparency or semi-transparency into the display system.
An alternative display system has been proposed to use a retro-reflective (RR) display surface to allow for increase display size with high brightness levels. Current state-of-the-art retro-reflective material is opaque sheeting that reflects light back to its source. The typical usage for this system is traffic safety and security. Retro-reflective sheeting used for traffic purposes include signs, asphalt reflectors, wearables and automobiles. Typical source of light is from automobile and motorcycle headlights. Retro-reflective sheeting used for security purposes include: warnings, directions. Typical light sources include airplanes, boats, and cars. Furthermore, current state-of-the-art retro-reflective systems do not engineer the retro reflective material to be semi-transparent or transparent.